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David Arkell

HR Leader - APACGeneral Electric

David joined GE in mid-2011 as Leader - Human Resources for Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. He took on an expanded leadership role as HR Leader for GE ASEAN in May 2017 and Asia Pacific in January 2018. In this role, David partners with the Regional CEOs and Leadership Teams to grow the businesses of GE, develop GE's human capital strategy, enhance their leadership pipeline and build their in-region HR capability in Organisation & Talent Development, Talent Acquisition, HR Operations, Compensation & Benefits, Learning and Development and Employee Relations. This role spans all GE’s business operations in the Region. Additionally, he is the Executive Sponsor of the GE GLBTA Network.

David joined GE from BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) where he was the Head of Human Resources. BMA is BHPB’s coal mining business headquartered in Brisbane and was (at the time) the largest individual business within the BHP Billiton group. David also had a long career at Zurich Financial Services Group where he had roles as Head of Human Resources and Marketing Communications for all of their international operations and Head of Human Resources for Asia Pacific. David has a Bachelor of Business from Charles Sturt University and an Associate Diploma Company Directorship, from the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He has held a number of Board Directorships, in Australia and internationally, and is a Fellow of the Australian Human Resources Institute. In 2014 David was a Finalist for the Australian, HR Director of The Year and he is a Member of the Editorial Board for the professional magazine – ‘Inside HR’.

David has over 30 years of global business experience across Energy, Infrastructure, Mining, Financial Services, Logistics and FMCG industries. Having lived in Australia (Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne), Indonesia, UK & Switzerland and now in Kuala Lumpur. Having managed businesses across Asia, Africa, South America, Middle East and Eastern Europe, David is truly a global citizen. David speaks (passable) Bahasa Indonesian and some Italian. Professional interests include, Leadership Development, Coaching, Diversity of Thought, Safety, Globalisation and the World of Work in 2025 and beyond.

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining David.